The invention relates to a device for treating algae in fluid vessels such as swimming pools, and more specifically to a device which an operator, above the surface of the water, can use to dispense controlled amounts of granular algaecide at specific locations on the floor of said fluid vessel.
Several types of algae commonly found in swimming pools grow in the form of round leathery clumps on the pool floor, and range in size from small spots to clumps the size of a silver dollar. One of the the most commonly used and effective methods for killing this type of algae is with the use of a granular algaecide. When this slow disolving granular algaecide is positioned directly on top of an algae spot and allowed to remain there until desolved, it "super-chlorinates" and kills the algae.
Heretofore the method for applying granular algaecide to algae spots has been to sprinkle the granular algaecide on the surface of the water directly above an algae spot, allowing it to drift down and settle on the algae spot. However, since the depth of an average pool ranges from three to nine feet, by the time the granular algaecide settles to the bottom, most of it has spread out, and very little of the granular algaecide ends up landing on the targeted algae spot. As a result, the algae often times is not covered with enough granular algaecide to kill it, and at the same time the person treating the algae has wasted a great deal of money, since approximately 75% of this very costly granular algaecide never even landed on top of the targeted algae spot. The results of this method of application are even less satisfactory when treating algae spots that are not near the edge of the pool, since the person treating the algae must now throw the granular algaecide at the target algae spot.
One last disadvantage of this conventional method of application has to do with the health hazards associated with exposure to granular algaecides and the accompaning chemical dust. This extremely fine dust is formed from the break down of the algaecide granules, and is found in significant concentrations in any container of granular algaecide. The manufacturers of these granular algaecides strongly caution against skin and eye contact or breathing of this fine dust. However, when throwing or sprinkling granular algaecide it is virtually impossible to avoid contact with this very fine chemical dust which lingers in the air for prolonged periods of time.